import pickle
try:
    tpath = THIS.abs_path('topics.dat')
except NameError:
    tpath = 'topics.dat' # for use with populate.py
try:
    topics = pickle.load(open(tpath,'rb'))
except IOError:
    topics = []
    pickle.dump([],open(tpath,'wb'))

def save(topics):
    pickle.dump(topics,open(tpath,'wb'))
